The invention relates to a pack for tobacco products, in particular cigarettes, comprising at least one blank which encloses the pack contents and is made of foldable packaging material, such as paper, cardboard or the like, folding tabs of the blank, in particular base folding tabs, (partially) overlapping one another and being connected to one another by glue, and, in addition, a Z-fold of the blank being formed adjacent to a (top) end wall and/or adjacent to a (bottom) base wall.
The invention primarily concerns a modified design of cigarette packs of the soft-carton type, namely preferably comprising a single blank made of paper or comparable packaging material. In order to increase the dimensional stability of such a pack, the latter is provided, at least in a region adjacent to an end wall, with an encircling multiple fold, namely, in particular, a Z-fold (U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,218). In addition, it is possible for such a cigarette pack to be provided, in the region of a base wall, with material reinforcements, namely a double-layered material strip from which correspondingly double-layered base folding tabs of the base wall are formed (U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,186).
The invention deals with improvements, in particular to cigarette packs of the abovementioned designs.
The object of the invention is to configure packs of the abovementioned and similar designs so as to ensure an improvement in the outer appearance and improved quality assurance for the pack contents.
In order to achieve this object, the pack according to the invention is characterized in that, between, on the one hand, folding tabs which are connected to one another by glue and, on the other hand, the pack contents, a covering tab is arranged in order to protect against glue being transferred onto the pack contents.
The invention is based on the finding that the gluing of folding tabs of the pack, in particular the gluing of base folding tabs of a base wall, holds the risk of particles of glue being transferred onto the pack contents, in particular onto end regions of the cigarettes adjacent to the base wall of the pack. The covering tab according to the invention protects the end surfaces of the cigarettes against glue being transferred.
Expediently, the covering tab, in the region of the base wall, is part of the blank, that is to say is connected thereto, to be precise preferably as an extension and/or supplement or attachment of a base corner tab which is usually positioned on the inside. Said base corner tab is a continuation of one of the narrow, upright side walls of the pack.
With a pack analogous to U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,186, the invention proceeds such that the covering tab is part of the double-layered material strip in the region of the base wall, but is not involved in reinforcing the pack in this region. Rather, corresponding punch cuts provide a base corner tab, of which the length corresponds to the width of the material strip which is to be folded in a double-layered manner. With the pack in the finished state, said extended base corner tab butts against the inside of the base wall and forms the covering tab.
In the case of a Z-fold formed, in particular, adjacent to the end wall, a plurality of layers may be produced in the region of an overlap of side tabs for forming a side wall on account of overlapping. According to the invention, in the region of the Z-fold and/or the overlapping of the same, a cutout is provided at least in the region of one of the layers and creates a local, border-side layer reduction. The layers are expediently connected by glue in this region, with the result that correct formation of the pack is ensured.